PORTSMOUTH, Virginia (Reuters) — A man who admitted to strangling two fellow prison inmates and threatened to continue killing until he received the death penalty was executed in Virginia on Wednesday, the first time the state has used the electric chair in nearly three years.

Robert Charles Gleason Jr., 42, had said he wanted to be put to death despite attempts by his former court-appointed attorneys to halt the execution and have him undergo a mental competency evaluation…

The attorneys had argued the time he spent in solitary confinement on death row left him unable to make rational decisions, a claim authorities rejected.

Gleason was pronounced dead at 9:08 p.m. (0208 GMT on Thursday), said Larry Traylor, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections. In his last statement, Gleason uttered the Irish Gaelic phrase “Pog mo thoin,” or “Kiss my ass,” Traylor said.